Don’t expect the Buccaneers to pursue Eugene Monroe

The Baltimore Ravens made a surprise move by cutting tackle Eugene Monroe this past week. The former first-round pick has started nearly every game he’s played, but has been limited by injuries in recent years. That likely led the Ravens to cut him, after drafting Ronnie Stanley in the first round of this year’s draft. Then again, maybe it was because of Monroe’s medical marijuana advocacy.

Regardless of what the reason was, there’s now a very good offensive tackle on the market, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were linked to several tackles in free agency and the draft — though they added none. That means they could be interested in Monroe, right?

Not so fast: Monroe has always been a left tackle, and the Buccaneers are really happy with left tackle Donovan Smith. Yes, I know Pro Football Focus doesn’t like him, and his game film was far from perfect, but the team is in love with his potential. Monroe’s availability isn’t going to change that.

At the most, the Bucs would like Monroe as a right tackle. But they’d have to shell out top shelf money for a right tackle they don’t really need, what with Demar Dotson and Gosder Cherilus on the roster, and then move Monroe to a side of the line he’s not familiar with. The salary would be mitigated by releasing Cherilus, but the Bucs would still have to pay him a hefty chunk of money — and that’s with his injury history clouding matters further.

None of that makes a move for Monroe particularly likely. While the Bucs aren’t done with their roster, Monroe is almost certainly not in the picture.